In just a few days I will have the opportunity to vote in the 2008 presidential primary since Georgia is one of the “Super Tuesday” states that will decide a large number of delegates to be awarded in both the Republican and Democratic contests. Lucky us.
I honestly haven’t decided who I’m going to vote for yet, but my decision has been made a lot easier thanks to voters in states like New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida. Those eager beavers have already thinned the herd quite a bit for the rest of us.
Because those states have aggressively moved their primaries further and further back on the calendar to maintain their early bird status in the primary season, they had the power to stomp the life out of the campaigns of people like Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, Dennis Kucinich, and John Edwards long before most of the nation got to weigh in on how they felt about those candidates. I suppose I should thank them for making my decision that much easier, but I ‘m not in a gracious mood. And I’ll bet I’m not the only one who feels that way.
Our system of nominating presidential candidates is a travesty, and it only seems to be getting worse as states jockey for position and importance in the nomination process, moving their primaries further and further back and taxing the patience of the electorate. In reality, the votes of citizens in early primary states count for a great deal more than the votes of citizens who vote later in the process, and there is no reasonable way to justify that fact.
Some things should be so self-evident that they scarcely seem to be worth saying out loud, but I’ll go ahead and state the obvious for those who have trouble recognizing the obvious: we need a national primary system. Badly.
Every state should hold its primary on the same day (or series of days), and that day should be closer to the middle of the election year than the beginning. Ideally, the entire campaign season should last no longer than one calendar year. As a bonus, that would leave more time for governors, congressmen, senators, and other public servants who still hold those offices when they decide to run for president more time to devote to their “day jobs” before they effectively abandon them to campaign full time.
The big problem with implementing such a plan is that the federal government currently lacks the jurisdiction to enforce any rules or regulations regarding how political parties nominate presidential candidates. Political parties are private entities, and are free to produce candidates for president by any means they choose. And we can see where that has led us.
If the leaders of those parties had any common sense and/or sense of shame, they would have long ago realized how ridiculous the situation is and done something about it, without prodding from outside sources. That seems unlikely to happen, so if anything is going to change it is going to require action from the federal government.
And, most likely, that will mean an amendment to the constitution. I think it’s time that such an amendment got serious consideration.
I am a federalist at heart, and a strong supporter of state’s rights. But the electing of a president is not a parochial matter. It is the one elected office that is truly federal in nature, and we need a more organized, logical, and fair process for producing candidates in the primary season.
My apologies to the good people of New Hampshire, but it is time for your days as kingmakers to come to an end. I for one have no desire to relive this nightmare in four years.
And then maybe we can do something about the general election and that cursed Electoral College. Ah, but that is another topic, for another day.
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